[Not With A Whimper 01] • Destroyers

One man's "duty" is another man's "mutiny". Major Karl Müller of the European Treaty Organization (ETO) walks a fine line as his squadron of shuttle-fighters prepares to meet any enemy in Earth's Last Battle. His orders are to commit what many would consider a war crime -- an attack on a helpless civilian space station. If they have to face the powerful United States of North America, chances are most of the squadron will not survive long enough to launch from their Azores base -- in which case the question become moot. But Müller can't count on death giving him the easy way out.

On the other side of the Atlantic, USNA Sergeant Frank Jensen views the near future with equal desperation. He and 39 fellow "volunteers" have failed Colonel Westorn's brainwashing course, and if the Colonel cannot successfully finish their indoctrination, he intends to finish them in another way. Jensen believes his group's only chance is to escape to one of the colony worlds, where Westorn won't be able to find them. That spells desertion, but his duty to himself and his comrades drives him forward. However, he sees no chance of them getting into space without help, and dying here on Earth appears the only alternative. He knows his people won't go down easily, but wonders what use Colonel Westorn has for soldier-fanatics.

Throw scientist Christine Burnett, aghast at what the perversion of her sleep-learning program has done, and the powerful Yrden Family into the mix, and you know that the world will end not with a whimper, but a bang.

Not With A Destroyers is a 67k word apocalyptic, military SF novel set in the Yrden Universe twenty years after "Courtesan". It runs concurrently with Not With A Producers.